Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Connor Gunn

WILDFIRE SEASON

Barriere, Clearwater mayors have concerns over wildfire response plan

Apr 28, 2022 | 4:07 PM

KAMLOOPS — The North Thompson region will not have BC Wildfire officers stationed in Barriere or Clearwater due to housing and staffing complications this year.

After a devastating fire season in 2021 for the surrounding areas, local mayors say they’re concerned about the response times for the upcoming summer.

The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) has told the mayors of Barriere and Clearwater that fire responders for wildfires will come from Kamloops.

Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell says if this summer is anything like last year’s fire season, that arrangement isn’t satisfactory.

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“With the new bar that the wildfires of 2021 set, we have concerns about capacity, we have concerns as small communities — ourselves and Barriere — about what we need to do to get prepared moving forward for this summer and for future summers.”

Barriere Mayor Ward Stamer says he and residents are worried about the response time to fires this summer.

“There’s a high level of concern out there for sure and a lot of people are hoping that we will have enough resources for the next fire season to be able to do whatever we possibly can. But again, we have a very short window of opportunity to get to the bottom of some of this stuff, make sure that we clear up some of these concerns, and make sure that we have enough people that are adequately trained.”

The BC Wildfire Service states fire staffing comes down to multiple problems locally and provincially.

“We traditionally had crews based there but won’t for this upcoming year,” said Rob Schweitzer, BCWS Director of Fire Centre Operations. “It simply comes down to the fact that we have a recruitment and retention problem in some of our bases and in our program overall which I don’t think is unlike any other industry that’s finding challenges with filling all the vacancies in the workforce.”

Recruiting challenges have resulted in less staff for smaller communities. Stamer hopes it doesn’t affect the upcoming wildfire season.

“They believe everything’s fine and yes, they’ve got some challenges but they’ll be there for us when the fire season starts. Well, the fire season is here and I believe that they’ll do everything in their power to help us out but we still have some unanswered questions and we would really like to be able to get to the bottom of it before we’re right in the middle of the fire season and we find out it’s too late to make any changes.”

As fire season is right around the corner, or some say already here, local fire services may need to prepare for a summer similar to 2021.